My current job is in an insurance company call center, and I’m looking at other call centers or for general clerical employment (admin/receptionist/data entry etc) in my area. I’m getting burnt out at my current job, but I’m not jumping ship for a pay cut… yet. Including my shift differential, I’m currently making $14.93 an hour. And since I have three years of experience now (and secure employment), I’m not settling for entry-level wages.
So, I sent out quite a few resumes on monster last night. I heard back from a couple places already this morning. One in particular wants to schedule a phone interview (score!). But, the listed offer for this position is only $12/hr–it’s advertised as entry-level. $12/hr is even less than than the $12.50 I was offered for my current job (which was entry-level for me at the time), and that was over 3 years ago. I don’t have high hopes that I can negotiate a high enough pay rate when the starting dollar amount is so low… or can I? I don’t know! My flat-out, hard-line requirement is that I’m not going to change jobs for anything less than $15 an hour. Optimally I’d like to get more than that–I would consider $16+ to be a decent, achievable step up (and if that sounds too outrageous for an office jockey, I’m in a higher-than-average COL area :p).
Should I even bother setting up an interview with this lady? I’m not too shy to negotiate a better salary–maybe if I desperately needed this job I’d be more hesitant to haggle, but I don’t and ain’t. However, I’ve never done salary negotiation before. Should I bring this up in a reply to her email, so she knows what I’m asking and not to waste her time unless she can offer $15+ (I would probably start by asking for $16.75 and be willing to come down to $15)? Should I just do the phone interview and discuss pay when they bring it up? I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot by bringing up the pay too early (if such a thing is possible), but I also don’t want to waste my time.
I would answer the e-mail. You can explain that the offer is much lower than you would be willing to accept. “Sorry, but I do not want to waste your time.” she may up the offer or ask you what you would accept, or she may say thanks maybe next time.
The OP does not have an offer at this point. It’s just an interview.
I say do the interview, when and if the discussion turns to money then tell them you want a little more than you’d actually accept. If they offer you the job, the money will either be what you’re looking for, or you can negotiate, or you can pass on it.
Doing the interview is worthwhile for the experience…see what areas of your resume draw questions, prepare answers for the next interview if this one doesn’t get you a better job.
I agree…I wouldn’t consider it a waste of either persons time. You will gain valuable interview experience and the employer can see what potential there may be to hiring you. You may not be right for this job but there may be others that you could be considered for.
That said, when there is an offer you can negotiate the rate of pay at that point. Don’t forget there are other things you can negotiate for like vacation, benefits and training. Not to mention a sign on bonus if they can’t give you the hourly rate you want, with the idea that next year they can give you the pay rate you want.
Ah, “listed offer” was a bad choice of words. I just meant that’s what they’re advertising as the starting pay rate for the position.
Thanks for the advice. I’m sure it would be good practice, and I wouldn’t even have to dress up for a phone interview. So that’s another plus.
Mostly I’m just hugely skeptical that a place advertising $12/hr entry level is going to be willing to pay fairly for any of the positions they’re filling, when that rate would have been low 3 years ago. Nowadays it’s unfairly low.
I’m not unaware of this. But as much as I hate my current job, I don’t hate it enough to take a pay cut. Especially when shit is so much more expensive. 'Cause food! and gas! goddamn
Really good advice above. As they said, do the interview for practice and find out your weak & strong points. And about the benefits tipping the scale—Yes.
Negotiating salary is just your everyday basic horse trading. Like you said, start high and be willing to come down some, but don’t let them know that. (They know that already but don’t you express it.) You’ll have to dance around some but try not to be the first one to lay out a figure. The first one to say a number has lost the advantage, and you don’t want that to be you. Deflect their “requirement questions” with “How much is that experience usually worth at your company?” or whatever veiled BS you can come up with. lol It’s a dance, enjoy the experience. And usually, I’ve found, it’s best if it goes in threes (I’m not sure why I’m saying this but from experience that’s what usually feels most satisfying to both parties.) They make an offer, you counter. They make another offer—if it’s not way off the mark, accept it. That way both sides feel good about it.
BTW The reason you don’t want to keep haggling down to the nth degree is because you may “win,” but if it “leaves a bad taste in their mouths” that’s not a good thing. The way people feel about you is usually more important than whatever qualifications you may have. It’s best when both parties feel like they’ve won.
Technically, they tipped their hand first with the $12/hour starting rate, which was listed in monster’s online job posting. It’s a total lowball, although if I were out of work I would probably take it (I’d negotiate a little, maybe up to $13/hr). I’m playing hardball now, though, since I don’t need the job.
I ended up emailing her yesterday. I said I’d love to do an interview, but I was concerned about the pay offer, as I couldn’t take a cut. She replied this morning that some wiggle room for negotiation was possible (though she couldn’t promise anything), and asked how much I was making now. I kind-of-answered the question while hedging quite politely. I said I started over three years ago with an entry-level rate of $12.50, which was intended to drive home that the wage they’re offering is seriously outdated, even for entry-level. I mentioned that I’ve received annual raises commensurate with performance. So my starting point for negotiations is 35k. As I’m going to break 32k this year including my bonus and a little bit of overtime, 35k seems a reasonable step up to me. I’d probably take 33 just for the change of scenery, but I didn’t say that.
It’s actually fun to negotiate when the stakes are low.
I think your only mis-step here was saying what your starting wage was three years ago - all they’re going to take away from that now is that you’re willing to start at $12.50, and just ignore what you want to be making now. In my opinion, of course - I would have just left that part out.
Do the interview. What have you got to lose? You can mention that you were looking for more when you see them in person.
Years ago, I was asked to come to a job interview that was the bare minimum that I was able to accept. I didn’t want to take it, went anyway. Turned out the benefits made the job far more worthwhile than it seemed at first.
I would add that it’s generally not advised to discuss salary details (both what you make now, and what you’re hoping to be paid if you get hired) before fairly deep in the interview process. It gives the company doing the hiring too much of a negotiating advantage.
What if they were willing to pay $15 to someone with your experience, but now they know that they can get you for less?
Not knowing the whole situation I think you might be getting a little ahead of yourself with the back and forth about the pay. You might be interested if the salalry is higher, and they might be able to do that. So it’s possible on both sides, just go ahead and do the first round. Say something like “Okay, it sounds like a great company and I’d like to learn more!”, ie, you’re not saying anything about what you’ll take and how serious you are.
Also, they do have your resume, if you’re totally overqualified they won’t waste their time interviewing you. They’re calling because they think there might be match. So long as it’s not a job you’d never ever take just give them a chance to make their pitch.
ETA: beat to it on preview, but yeah, don’t overthink it. So long as it’s a posibility just go ahead and hear what they have to say about the job(s) they have.
My initial advice would have been to do the interview (if nothing else, it’s good practice for future interviews). You can show them how much experience and knowledge you have and how good you would be for them. Usually they will ask you at some point in the process what your salary requirements are, and you want aim high but not too high: $35k if you want $33 is about right, so good job there.
If they like you, they’ll either try to pay you that or they might find they have an even better position for you.
When I joined my current employer, they were not quite able to match the base salary I was making at my previous employer. But we have an annual bonus which has averaged over 15% of my pay the last few years and that more than made up for the pay difference; plus I just like this job a lot more, so it was totally worth the move for the nominal pay cut.
I appreciate the criticism, this is all a learning process since I’ve never tried to negotiate a higher wage than offered before. How would you recommend deflecting a request for current wages? Just ignore it (or sidestep it diplomatically) and make an offer? Or is it better just go through the entire interview process and get an official job offer, then make a counteroffer? I can definitely see the argument that it’s unseemly to bring this up so early, **but **I really don’t want to waste my time if they’re not willing to go high enough. Also, this late in the year, I can’t take time off work for an in-person interview unless it’s unpaid/unscheduled time (which would leave a big red stain on my attendance record)–there are no available PTO days in my department from now until it all resets on January 1st! :eek: So, I might just wait to continue the job search until after our PTO calendars reset in January.
The reason I brought my old starting wage up was to demonstrate that I was willing to accept that amount as entry-level pay three years ago. I’m no longer an entry-level worker in this field (it’s a call center job, I have three years of current experience working in a call center), and three years have passed. That calls for a not-insubstantially higher wage IMO.
My flat-out, hard-line requirement is that I’m not going to change jobs for anything less than $15 an hour. Optimally I’d like to get more than that–I would consider $16+ to be a decent, achievable step up (and if that sounds too outrageous for an office jockey, I’m in a higher-than-average COL area :p).